Thursday, June 18, 2009

There isn't a more colorful coach in the college ranks than Bruce Pearl. The guy has gone shirtless, hit on Erin Andrews and been seen on boats hugging random coeds. Well NBA TV has taken note of this, and will be adding the Tennessee coach to their NBA Draft team next week....

NBA TV and NBA.com will provide fans with all-access coverage leading up to, and continuing throughout, the 2009 NBA Draft presented by EA SPORTS, which will be held at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Thursday, June 25th. For the first time Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl will join NBA TV’s draft night coverage to provide a unique perspective on the NBA Draft Preview Show presented by EA SPORTS at 6 p.m. ET and the 2009 NBA Draft Recap presented by EA SPORTS at Midnight ET. In addition, Pearl will provide blogs on NBA.com entitled “Pearl’s Gems” with his insight on the NBA Draft and prospects.

In addition to pre and post-draft analysis, an expert panel of announcers including host Rick Kamla, analysts Kenny Smith, Steve Smith and Pearl will provide Instant Analysis of key draft selections that will be available exclusively on NBA.com. NBA Insider David Aldridge will be on-hand for NBA TV and NBA.com with breaking news updates about trades. In addition, reporter Craig Sager will be on hand at Madison Square Garden in New York City to interview players moments after they are selected in the draft via the EA Sports Virtual Green Room, streamed on NBA.com. NBA Assistant Director of Scouting Ryan Blake will be in New York to provide scouting reports and draft analysis of international players throughout the night.

"Pearl's Gems"....get it?! Man, that's clever. In all seriousness though, the guy is quite the character, and NBA TV just gave me a reason to watch their coverage over ESPNs. Bruce Pearl could be the next Stephen A. Smith, if you ask me.

Let me see if I follow, "Bruce Pearl could be the next Stephen A. Smith" and "NBA TV just gave me a reason to watch their coverage". Is that an endorsement of Stephen A. Smith? I would never watch TV commentary if the person providing it is being identified as the "next Stephen A. Smith."

Coach Pearl said on this Twitter feed (@CoachBrucePearl) that he'd be doing this coverage "with his shirt on" lol. The man is hilarious imo and I believe he'll provide some awesome content on the draft. NBA TV is having a pretty extensive coverage overall too: http://www.nba.com/2009/news/06/18/bruce.pearl.release/index.html?cid=playoff4